


An Abundance of Kittens

by swallowsmateforlife



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Kittens, M/M, Sexual Content, but only mentioned really nothing detailed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-01
Updated: 2015-06-01
Packaged: 2018-04-02 07:46:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4052044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swallowsmateforlife/pseuds/swallowsmateforlife
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis' got far too big a heart to let five kittens shiver alone in the rain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Abundance of Kittens

**Author's Note:**

  * For [space_canada](https://archiveofourown.org/users/space_canada/gifts).



The day hadn’t started out miserable. Louis’ day had, in fact, begun in the most wonderful way.

He hadn’t had to be to work until two o’clock which meant having a lie in as long as he wanted, dozing in and out of sleep until the bedroom became too bright to stay asleep.

Louis smiled as he felt Liam’s arm slip around his waist, felt Liam cuddle up against Louis’ back and press in close, sharing the warmth and deliciousness of skin on skin. Louis leaned into the touches, smiling at the kiss Liam pressed to his bare shoulder.

“Morning,” Liam had said, all gruff and sleep-rumpled.

“Hi,” Louis said, eyes drifting closed again as Liam cuddled him. This was absolutely his most favourite way to wake up. No alarms, no having to get out of bed, just lazing around together until they were fully awake and ready for the day.

“Love you,” Liam said, pressing more kisses to Louis’ shoulder. Louis couldn’t help but smile, leaning back into it.

“Love you, too,” Louis told him, grinning a little and rocking his hips back against Liam.

Liam fucked him like that, spooned up close behind Louis, pressed together and sharing warmth. Louis laced his fingers with Liam’s on his tummy, squeezing Liam’s hand and moaning at each slow, deep press of Liam’s cock inside of him.

Truly nothing better than lazy, warm morning sex.

Louis drifted off back to sleep shortly after he came, dreams of love and warmth and happiness taking him away.

The rest of the day, however…

Louis had had an absolutely miserable day and was nothing if not grateful that the clock had finally struck seven and he could go the fuck home.

Louis wasn’t much of a complainer in the worst of times – he rather loved being a barista and the fast paced café he worked at meant for quickly passing shifts with the amount of traffic coming in for pre-work espressos and lunch-break meetings and the afternoon rush to get people through their days. Louis loved his coworkers, loved the café, and more than anything he loved experimenting and creating new Drinks of the Month but today had gone all to hell.

Everyone seemed to have eaten pissy cheerios that morning and Louis had been thrown off his game by attitudey customers which meant dropping a newly opened bag of coffee beans all over the floor. He’d burned himself on the steamer and gotten chocolate drizzle in his hair and Louis was just so grateful to be going home.

With the doors of Bean Me Up locked behind him Louis made his way down the street, hands stuffed into the pockets of his tight black jeans. The walk home was only fifteen minutes, nothing he couldn’t manage, but Louis was tired and cranky and the rain drizzle beginning to fall around him was doing nothing for his mood. Huffing to himself, Louis rounded the corner into the back lane – a shortcut home that he normally wouldn’t take in the dark but Louis wanted nothing but to make it home as quickly as he could.

The gentle ‘mew’ he heard coming from behind a dumpster, however, shook him from his thoughts and Louis frowned, pausing where he was. Louis strained to listen, eyebrows knitted together in concentration before he heard it again. Not the meow of a cat, no. That was a kitten, and it sounded tiny and young and defenseless and Louis couldn’t bare the thought of an innocent, sweet baby kitty being afraid and alone out in the dark and the rain.

Frowning, Louis moves around the side of the dumpster, pulling his iPhone out to switch on the flash light and shine it into the small space between the grungy brick walls and the dumpster.

“Oh fuck,” Louis gasps, eyes widening in surprise at the small little cardboard box – one that looks to be for filing in offices – stashed behind the dumpster and the tiny kitten head popping up over the edge. “Who could ever do this?” Louis asks to no one in particular as he heaves his body weight against the steel dumpster, edging it away from the wall enough to crouch down and reach out.

Louis hooks his fingertips over the edge of the box, tugs it toward himself and shines the light of his phone inside to get a better look.

“Oh my god, look at you all,” Louis coos as he counts five tiny kittens, white and orange splotched, and shivering in the cold of the rain. “Who left you out here like this? Out with the trash?” Louis asks, reaching in to gently stroke his fingertips over the head of the kitten standing up on its hind legs, tiny front paws resting on the wall of the cardboard box. The kitten nudges into Louis’ touch and Louis can’t help but smile.

Glancing over his shoulder for any sign of the responsible person, Louis frowns when he considers his options. He surely can’t leave the kittens in the rain to freeze to death.

“What are we going to do with you all, hm?” Louis asks quietly, stroking gently over the other four kittens, hoping to sooth them. “Can’t leave you out here, can we?” He asks, sighing a bit. Louis stands again, pockets his phone, and reaches down to pick up the box into his arms, grateful that the rain hasn’t soaked it through and it seems to be holding well enough.

Louis starts off back down the alleyway again, box tucked up under his arm as the five little kittens mew up at him, no doubt cold and frightened. Louis’ heart breaks a little. Liam’s going to kill him.

Louis arrives to their flat quickly, fumbling around to get his keys out again to unlock their door before he pushes his way into the flat, shivering and grateful to finally be inside where he can’t be rained on any longer.

“Alright, little ones,” Louis says, nudging the door closed behind him and kicking off his wet Vans, keys finding their place on the hall table. “Let’s get you lot all dried up,” he says, walking through to climb the stairs up to the bathroom. Louis sets the box down on the floor and picks up the towel he’d used after his shower that morning, folds it up so it’s soft and squishy, and lays it out in the tub. One by one, Louis gently scoops up each kitten to settle them down on the towel, knowing he’d never manage to keep track of all five without something corralling them in.

“How’s everyone doing?” Louis asks, taking stock of each little baby to assess if any of them are hurt. He smiles as the kittens wobble on their tired little legs, but for the most part all five seem relatively alright, just cold and tired. Louis shifts on his knees, leaning over the edge of the bath tub with a smaller towel in hand to gently rub along each kitten’s fur, trying to dry them off the best he can.

When he’s satisfied that none of the babies will catch hypothermia Louis sits back on his ankles and watches as they crawl around, soft little mews filling the room. They’re precious and tiny babies and Louis hates that someone could be cruel enough to abandon them like this.

“Liam’s definitely going to kill me,” Louis says, frowning a bit and sighing. “But there’s no way I could leave you all alone out there, now could I?” Louis asks the kittens, smiling as a few whimpery mews reply back to him.

“I haven’t got any cat food,” Louis says, wrinkling his nose in thought about what to do for the little ones. “Sit tight, I’ll be back,” he says as he pulls himself up, trusting the bath tub can keep them contained for the time being.

Louis hurries back down the stairs to the kitchen, pulling open the pantry door to pull out a can of tuna. He’d planned to use it for sandwiches but he and Liam can find something else to tide them over for the evening. Louis has no idea when the kittens ate last and he hopes this will do until morning when he can go to the shop for proper cat food.

Louis hurries to open the can up, scoops half of it out onto a plate and uses a fork to smush it about so the kittens can eat it up.

“I’m coming, kitties!” Louis calls, laughs at himself for it, and darts back up the stairs. “Are you hungry?” He asks, coming back over to kneel at the edge of the tub and place the plate down on the towel.

“Come on, here you go,” Louis says, picking up each kitten to bring them to the plate, grinning to himself as each one gobbles up the tuna. “Poor babies,” he sighs, watching the little orange and white fluffballs mash their tiny faces into the food. It’ll do in a pinch.

It’s then that he hears the front door crash open downstairs, Liam having arrived home from work.

“Shit,” Louis says, glancing over his shoulder at the bathroom door. He hasn’t the slightest idea what he’s going to say to Liam.

“Lou?” Liam’s voice calls up the stairs, and Louis bites his lip, groaning softly.

“In the bathroom!” Louis calls back, folding his arms onto the edge of the tub and resting his head down on them, watching the kittens finish up the tuna on the plate.

Liam’s light footsteps bound up the stairs, down the hall, and then he’s in the doorway, peering in at Louis.

“What’s going on?” He asks and Louis can hear the shock in his voice.

“Um,” Louis starts, looking back at Liam briefly before he reaches back into the tub to grab the plate, reaches to set it on the closed toilet lid for now. “I found them… on my way home?” Louis offers, putting on a smile that he hopes will persuade Liam to not freak out.

“What?!” Liam yelps, coming into the bathroom to stare down at the five little kittens curling up around each other now that they’ve got full bellies. “Louis, what do you mean? We can’t have _five kittens,_ ” Liam says, no doubt shocked by it all.

“Liam! I know,” Louis says, frowning as he looks back at the little kittens, reaching down to stroke over their soft fur. “Someone threw them out with the trash,” Louis says softly, not wanting to upset or disturb the kittens. They’ve no doubt had a rough day. Or few days. Louis doesn’t know how long they’d been out there.

“What are you on about?” Liam asks, stepping over and kneeling down to look in at the kittens a little better.

“They were in that box,” he says, nodding to the forgotten soggy cardboard. “Stuffed behind a dumpster in the alley. I heard one of them mewl. I couldn’t just leave them! It was raining and cold and someone threw them out,” Louis says, a pout forming on his face as his heart clenches in his chest. “Who could do that, Liam?” Louis asks, turning his gaze to Liam and frowning.

“That’s… that’s horrible,” Liam says, sighing as he leans against the side of the tub. “But we can’t keep five kittens,” Liam tells Louis, shaking his head a bit.

“I know. I know, I just. It was late, I didn’t know what to do. Someone threw them out,” Louis says again, hating that he feels on the edge of tears about it. He pulls his hand back from where he’d been petting the little kittens, shifting a bit to face Liam.

Liam sighs, looking back at Louis and reaching out to pull him in. Liam presses his lips gently to Louis’ and Louis kisses him back, bumping noses as he pulls away.

“You did the right thing,” Liam concedes, stroking his fingers through Louis’ hair. “We can figure out what to do in the morning. Contact a rescue or something,” Liam says, pulling back to look in on the sleeping kittens again.

Louis nods a bit, watching the kittens as they fall asleep together. He knows, _he knows_ they can’t keep five kittens with their busy lives and work schedules and uni classes but Louis can’t help but want to.

“Can we keep one?” Louis asks quietly, biting his lip and hoping he’s got his best puppydog eyes on for Liam. “Please, Liam? One would be alright,” Louis says, looking hopefully over at his boyfriend.

“Louis,” Liam starts, shaking his head a little. “I don’t know, it’ll be a lot of work,” he says, sighing softly.

“Just think about it,” Louis says, moving to get up from the floor. “Sleep on it. I’m going to let them spend the night in the tub so we don’t lose anyone,” Louis tells him, going to the cupboard to get out another soft towel. Louis tucks it in around the kittens for extra comfort and warmth, smiles as he stands up again.

“Let’s get to bed, I guess,” Liam says, frowning a bit as he, too, stands.

Louis sighs as Liam leaves the bathroom and moves to follow him.

“Goodnight, little ones,” Louis says, switching the light off and closing the bathroom door behind him. He does not need any runaway kittens hidden in his flat and he supposes they’ll be alright locked in the bathroom for the night.

If Louis scoops each one up into his arms in the morning to wake Liam up with a chest-full of wriggling, mewing, happy, cuddly kittens, well… perhaps maybe he’ll convince Liam to keep one.

Or five.


End file.
